About us

About us

Pregnancy Sickness Support is a registered UK charity working to improve care, treatment and support for women suffering from Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP) and the severe form of the condition; Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG).

We are currently a small charity and rely heavily on donations and fund-raising from sufferers and the work of volunteers but we are growing rapidly thanks to the hard work and dedication of our small team.

Our national support network is for sufferers of NVP and HG and their carers, which is growing and developing constantly and making a huge difference to women all around the country. Our leaflets and website also provide a valuable resource for those suffering. We are also working hard to raise awareness about Nausea and Vomiting in pregnancy and Hyperemesis Gravidarum with the public, the media and Health Care Professionals (HCP's) and are involved in ongoing research into the cause and treatment of NVP and HG and the psychological impact for sufferers and their families. Guidelines and training programmes for healthcare professionals were published by the RCOG in 2016. We host host biennial conferences for both Healthcare professionals, researchers and Pregnancy Sickness Supporters.

Long term we would like to see the charity grow to reflect the national need for support for these condition and if you would like to get involved or donate to support our work then please see our pages on Getting Involved and Donating.

History

Dr Barnie-Adshead first became interested in pregnancy sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum in the 1960's as a GP and did some research trying to find the cause. When Dr Gadsby joined the practice in 1979, he became involved in developing the research. It was clear that the condition was generally under-researched and not fully appreciated & that the natural history of the condition was not well described. Funding was obtained to do a prospective community study, describing the features of pregnancy sickness in 363 women, each of whom delivered a healthy baby. This study was published in 1993 and it has become widely quoted. The work has been described in a number of newspaper articles and Dr Gadsby has spoken on the BBC radio 4 programme "You and Yours" on two occasions and he was "referee" for the BMJ, Breath of Learning article, Treatments for nausea and vomiting Oct 2004.

In 1998, Dr Gadsby was invited to talk about this research at the first International Conference on Nausea & Vomiting in Pregnancy held in Toronto. There he met people from "motherisk" based at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, who run a telephone support line for women experiencing pregnancy sickness and hyperemesis. He thought it would be wonderful to be able to provide a similar service here in the UK. Since then Dr Barnie-Adshead and Dr Gadsby have been raising funds and as a result, Pregnancy Sickness Support was registered as a Charitable Trust in 2002.

Following the 2011 conference, PSS has seen the introduction of new trustees to the Pregnancy Sickness Support Trust and an increase in fund raising activity and volunteer recruitment. Projects are now under way to get a National Supporters Network up and running as well as the development of fresh and up to date printed information leaflets for sufferers. We are working on raising the National Profile of the condition and it's treatment with Health Care Professionals, the public and the media.

#ReadMyStory

"I've found having a peer supporter really useful. A few texts seems like such a small thing, but it’s meant a lot to know I’m not alone and that there is someone that I can speak to, who has been through it themselves"

85%

85% of pregnant women have two episodes of nausea per day.

30%

30% of pregnant women in paid employment need time off work due to NVP.

70-80%

Nausea & vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) is very common, on average it affects 70-80% of pregnant women to a greater or lesser extent.